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Websleuths News

Join Websleuths Radio for the final discussion of THE KILLING SEASON
with Josh Zemam, Rachel Mills and special guests including Bob Kolker author of Lost Girls

TX - Maria Isabel Solis, 16, Houston, 3 March 2003

Maria Solis disappeared from Houston, TX in April 2003, when she was sixteen years old. Her remains were just identified today; they were actually found in August 2003. She was murdered. Sigh...I hope they find out who did it.

Bones found in '03 are those of missing 16-year-old girl

The discovery is linked to teen last seen on her way to school

By ERIC HANSONCopyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

SUGAR LAND - Bones found about 18 months ago in Fort Bend County are those of a Houston teenager who was last seen when she left home for school one morning, police said.

Sugar Land police said DNA analysis confirmed the skeletal remains found Aug. 13, 2003, near the U.S. 59 southbound turnaround at the Brazos River are those of Maria Solis, 16.
The family's hopes were dashed by Wednesday's devastating news, said Isabel Solis, the teen's aunt.

"She was a very responsible, good person who had many plans for her future," she said. "She wanted to be a chemist."

The teen was reported missing by her family on March 3, 2003. The freshman had not been seen since about 9 a.m. when her father dropped her off on Griggs and Grace in southeast Houston to catch a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus to George I. Sanchez Charter High School.

Family members said Solis got on the bus and was supposed to transfer at Scott and Old Spanish Trail. She never made it to school, which is operated by the Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Americans.

The disappearance triggered a huge search in the neighborhood but no substantial clues were found.

The remains were discovered by crews cutting trees in a heavily wooded area about 50 yards from the river.

There was no clothing or jewelry at the site, giving police few clues as to the identity or gender of the remains.

Two months after the discovery, Sugar Land police said forensic tests showed the young woman was a homicide victim but detectives declined to offer any details about the exact cause of death.

The Brazos River turnaround, a U-turn under the bridge on the east bank, was closed in 1995 by Texas highway officials after local leaders complained about the high incidence of crime and accidents.

The site has a reputation as a dumping ground for bodies. Houston and Sugar Land police are investigating the Solis case.

Thank you for linking this, Meaghan. I am deeply saddened and troubled by this, not only because she was abducted and murdered, but because she was found in August of 2003, 5 months and 10 days after she was abducted. It concerns me that it took 18 long months to identify her.

The article says it was because of the lack of clothing and stuff at the scene. I'm thinking perhaps they had a pretty good idea who it was, but they had to go the DNA route so it took a long time to make the identification official.

At least Maria's family knows where she is now. Unhappy as this ending is, at least there is an ending. So many families have to wonder all their lives.

Houston and Sugar Land police have agreed to investigate Solis' death jointly. Meanwhile, officials at the University of North Texas lab that identified her remains say it took so long because of a lack of necessary software, a backlog of cases and complications with some bone samples.